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Friday, August 30, 2019

The Highlands Bluebirds boys soccer team has hit a rough patch.
But the good news is Highlands (4-2-1 overall) did salvage a scoreless tie against the improved Conner Cougars on Thursday at Tower Park. Conner is 5-1-1.

Conner made waves in the 33rd District Tournament last year with a 2-1 win over the Ryle Raiders in the semifinals. The Cougars finished 13-7 losing 2-1 in double overtime to Dixie Heights in the 9th Region quarterfinals.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Twitter Photo. The Highlands Bluebirds soccer team knocked off Cincinnati (Ohio) Indian Hill on Saturday.

The Highlands Bluebirds girls soccer team (2-0-1 overall) knocked off an Ohio defending state champion Saturday at Tower Park.

The Cincinnati Indian Hill Braves had won the last two Division II state championships. But the Bluebirds beat the Braves, 3-1.

Anna Podojil led the Braves to those two state championships. The 5-foot-5-inch forward won the 2018-19 Gatorade Player of the Year award for Ohio last year and is now playing at the University of Arkansas. Her sister Ellie Podojil, a midfielder, is a senior and has also committed to Arkansas.

"(Ellie Podojil) is the real deal," said Alex Dean, Highlands Head Coach. "So we changed up our formation (Saturday). We had kind of an irregular formation. We took one of our outside wings and we turned it into a man-to-man (defense). We had two of our defenders switch off and we had one of our defenders stay with her the entire game. She did not get a lot of chances. That was one of the things we wanted to work on because in the future, we're going to face some teams that have that stellar player. Our defense did a good job of helping if the defender did get beat."
Sophomore Chloe Bramble scored the first goal for Highlands with around 35 minutes left in the first half. She also had an assist and leads the Bluebirds with two goals and two assists for six points on the season. The Bluebirds led 1-0 at halftime.

The second goal came from senior Maria Broering with 39 minutes left in the game. Sophomore sister Faith Broering scored with three minutes left in the game for the final score. Faith Broering and junior Greta Noble also had assists.

Highlands has yet to allow more than one goal in a game this year. Highlands had 14 shots with 11 on goal to eight shots for Indian Hill. Bluebirds junior goalkeeper Jasmine Rehberger had seven saves.

"I felt our defense held a very tight line and worked well together," said Parker Price, Highlands senior midfielder. "Our passing was extremely good. Our midfield held back a little to help the defense. Our offense was making fantastic runs and our balls were great over top."

Highlands plays host to Ryle (1-3) on Monday. Game time is 8 p.m.

Soccer, Boys:Highlands 5, Trinity 3:
Highlands (4-1) lost for the first time this season.

Senior Caymon Stevie, junior Max Farris and sophomore Cole Lorenzen had the goals for the Bluebirds. Junior Hank Cook had the assist. Farris has six goals and two assists on the season for a team-high 14 points.

Highlands takes on North Oldham on Tuesday. Game time is 7 p.m.

Golf, Boys:Highlands plays in Mason County Invitational:

The Bluebirds tied for seventh with Pikeville with 322 in the event at Laurel Oaks Golf Course. Lexington Sayre won it with 310.

Saturday, August 24, 2019

The Highlands Bluebirds saw two quarterbacks in action in the win at Scott on Friday.

Junior Jake Fahlbusch started the game and senior Collin Hollingsworth finished it. Fahlbusch completed 7-of-11 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown with Hollingsworth completing 12-of-22 for 137 yards, an interception and touchdown. Both are left-handed quarterbacks.

"I thought they both actually played pretty well," said Sam Umberg, Highlands Offensive Coordinator. "The big thing on film (Saturday) is each one is going to learn from the other. A lot of teams don't have the luxury of having two lefties. They can learn from each other as well as learn from their own reps."
Hollingsworth rushed for a touchdown in the third quarter on a quarterback sweep. That put Highlands up 35-13 with 1:47 left.

Highlands had not started a southpaw at quarterback since 2012 when Donovan McCoy started. McCoy gave the Bluebirds a dual threat running and passing the ball.

Series Against Scott:
Highlands moved to 31-0 all-time against Scott. This marked the first time the two teams met since 2010 when they were in the same Class 5A District 5.

Around District 5:
The district finished 4-0 on the first night of action. Covington Catholic won its 30th game in 31 tries with a convincing 37-0 win over Ryle at home.

Cooper and Boone County also posted victories to open the season. Cooper edged Dixie Heights, 7-0 and the Rebels beat Covington Holmes, 20-6.

Up Next:
Highlands plays Knoxville Catholic (1-0) in the Cumberland Falls Pigskin Classic on Saturday. Game time is 5:30 p.m. The Fighting Irish opened the season with a convincing 48-0 win over Chuckey-Doak out of Afton (Tennessee).

Cross Country:
The Highlands Cross Country teams ran in the Moeller Primetime Invitational at Christ's Church at Mason to open the season. Both teams ran in the varsity blue race.

The Highlands girls placed eighth out of 18 teams with 216 points. Highlands junior Maggie Schroeder led the way placing 13th with a time of 20 minutes, 20.5 seconds.

The Highlands boys placed 14th out of 17 teams. Junior Will Griffith led the Bluebirds finishing 45th in 17:53.3.

Highlands next runs in the Mason Invitational on Sept. 7 at 9 a.m. The race takes place at Corwin M. Nixon Pine Hills Lake Park in Mason (Ohio).

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

PHOTO: G. Michael Graham, Fort Thomas Matters. The Highlands volleyball team huddles before the game against Beechwood on Tuesday.

They came out in a rhythm and kept up the intensity the entire way to open the season at home.

The Highlands Bluebirds volleyball team returns 10 players with varsity experience from last year's 25-11 team and it showed in a big way in a 3-0 (25-12, 25-11, 25-12) win over the Beechwood Lady Tigers. The Bluebirds made just 17 errors in the victory with 10 coming on hitting errors.

The lightning on the field came to full force as the arch-rivals met in the season-opener for the hosts at Tower Park.

But the lightning on the field forced the game to end early. That meant the Highlands Bluebirds girls soccer team and the Notre Dame Pandas (1-0-1) had to settle for a 1-1 tie.

"It's really hard playing your rival the very first game of the year, but I think it's kind of a good thing," said Alex Dean, Highlands Head Coach. "Leaving a big gap for if we do see them in the post-season, it's not, 'Oh, wait. We just saw them.' We have to adjust throughout the season. Things happen. We weren't worried about the score. Winning is always great. (But) it's making sure we're playing hard and we're out there trying to get a little more fit. We're a little slim on numbers. But we have faith in our girls. They all can play 80 minutes. Games like that will help us get to that."

Sunday, August 18, 2019

PHOTO: G. Michael Graham, Fort Thomas Matters. Members of the Highlands Boys Soccer Coaching staff watch at the end of a recent practice. Highlands is 2-0 on the season after beating Louisville Ballard, 1-0 on Saturday.

The Highlands Bluebirds boys soccer team (2-0 overall) knocked off the Louisville Ballard Bruins, 1-0 in a tight non-region game Saturday.